Shakshuka (Poached Eggs in Tomato Sauce)

This recipe calls for poached eggs to simmer in a rich tomato sauce with feta, eggplant and chickpeas. Also known as shakshuka, it's a perfect healthy meal for any time of the day (breakfast included)!

Earlier this month the hubby went out of town for a work trip. His trips used to send me into a stress spiral. I’d spend days before he left anxiously worrying about how I was going to feed, bathe, clothe and generally keep the children and myself alive until he returned. On this last trip, though, for the first time we managed. It wasn’t that we didn’t miss him as much or that we didn’t, per usual, try to FaceTime him eleventy times a day while he was in meetings.  It’s that suddenly, I have little helpers at home. Now that Ge Ge is five years old, he’s become this wonderful, insightful, thoughtful human being. Plus, he’s not old enough to realize how totally lame I am. I hope he stays five forever.

The kids helped me every night by setting the table before dinner. Ge Ge loves to make what he calls “family date night.” He sets out our “fancy” (read: our regular white plates) plates and cloth napkins and turns on our battery-powered LED candles. For the grownups, he puts out stemless wine glasses and sensible sturdy drinking glasses for himself and his sister. He’ll bring me our TV remote and insist that I play Pandora radio on our TV for “happy dinner music.” Someday he’ll make a woman very happy (and break his mother’s heart, I’m sure).


One night, as the weather cooled, Ge Ge asked me to make him some “soft eggs” for supper. “Soft eggs,” according to him, are basically fried or poached with a runny yolk. I thought about making breakfast for dinner until I found this beautiful recipe for poached eggs in tomatoes, which I modified to add eggplant and a few other goodies to make a well-rounded, hearty meal.

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This recipe calls for poached eggs to simmer in a rich tomato sauce with feta, eggplant and chickpeas. Also known as shakshuka, it's a perfect healthy meal for any time of the day (breakfast included)!

This dish is also known as shakshuka and is popular in Middle Eastern countries, as I’ve learned. The common element is a heavy tomato sauce, which simmers while raw eggs are cracked right into the sauce. The tomato sauce is mildly spiced with onions, cumin and paprika. The recipe I used also incorporated chickpeas, which made the dish more filling and robust. I also folded in some sauteed baby Japanese eggplants from our farm share, which added really nice silkiness and smokiness as well.  There’s also chunks of feta, which melt as they’re embedded in the sauce, and the whole dish is garnished with parsley and cilantro for a nice fresh contrast. I served ours with toasted naan bread that I keep by the bag in our freezer for a simple one-dish meal.

This recipe calls for poached eggs to simmer in a rich tomato sauce with feta, eggplant and chickpeas. Also known as shakshuka, it's a perfect healthy meal for any time of the day (breakfast included)!

The kids loved dunking their crispy wedges of naan into the tomato concoction. Since we’re all huge fans of runny yolks, we ooh-ed and ahh-ed as the viscous golden yolks oozed as we broke into them with our forks. I loved swirling a forkful of eggy tomato mixture and mashing it onto my naan. The kids followed suit. Cleanup was easy too, since I’d only used one pan to make dinner and it went straight to the table.

After dinner we nestled onto the sofa for our pre-bedtime FaceTime call with the hubby. The kids asked him to give him a tour of his hotel room while I asked him what he ate for dinner. “Mediocre tacos,” he griped. “What did you guys have?”

I didn’t have the heart to tell him that we’d just finished fawning over a tasty new recipe, so I was specifically vague. “We had eggs.” And I’ve never really come clean, I guess. Until now…

poached egg in tomatoes with feta, eggplant & chickpeas

Time40 minutes
Servings4
This dish, also known as shakshuka, is a simple, hearty dish for breakfast, lunch or dinner

Ingredients

  • 1/4 cup olive oil
  • 1 medium onion (finely chopped)
  • 4 garlic cloves (coarsely chopped)
  • 2 baby eggplants (coarsely chopped)
  • 1 15- ounce can chickpeas (drained and rinsed)
  • 2 teaspoons sweet paprika
  • 1 teaspoon ground cumin
  • 1 28- ounce can whole peeled tomatoes (crushed by hand, juices reserved)
  • Kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper
  • 1 cup coarsely crumbled feta
  • 8 large eggs
  • 1 tablespoon chopped flat-leaf parsley
  • 1 tablespoon chopped fresh cilantro
  • 2 pieces of naan bread (toasted)

Instructions

  • Preheat oven to 425 degrees.
  • In an ovenproof skillet, heat the olive oil over medium until it’s shimmering. Add the onion, garlic, paprika, cumin and salt and pepper to taste. Saute over medium heat until the onions are starting to soften, about 4-5 minutes. Add the eggplant and continue sauteeing until the eggplant is soft. Add the chickpeas and cook for 1-2 minutes.
  • Pour in the tomatoes and reduce heat to medium low. Simmer the mixture, stirring frequently, until the tomato sauce thickens slightly, approximately 13-15 minutes. Season with salt and pepper again, then sprinkle the crumbled feta over the sauce.
  • Crack eggs one at a time into the tomato sauce, making sure to space them evenly. Slide the pan into the oven and bake until the whites are set but the yolks are still runny (note: you will have to monitor this carefully; it took me about 12 minutes before the egg yolks were set).
  • Remove the skillet from the oven and garnish with cilantro and parsley. Serve immediately with toasted naan (or pita).
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This recipe was inspired by this Epicurious recipe for shakshuka

This recipe calls for poached eggs to simmer in a rich tomato sauce with feta, eggplant and chickpeas. Also known as shakshuka, it's a perfect healthy meal for any time of the day (breakfast included)!

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About me

I’m Ann, a mom / wife / lawyer / certified culinary enthusiast. I share recipes, travel guides and home life tips while living overseas. Currently based in São Paulo, Brazil.

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